Solid waste management in pakistan

(Draft) Guideline for
Solid Waste Management

JUN 2005
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency

(Draft) Guideline for
Solid Waste Management
Contents
Part A: Current SWM Situation in Pakistan

1. Review and analysis of present situation of SWM
2. Review of work carried out under pertinent previous and on-going initiatives
3. Assessment of the availability, accessibility, quality and relevance of available
data and identification of gaps
4. Review of existing legal framework on solid waste management
5. Review of existing institutional mechanism
6. Estimation of future solid waste generation
7. Strategies for solid waste management in Pakistan

Part B: SWM Guideline

1. Introduction
2. Waste Generation, Discharge and Composition
3. Waste Reduction (including Reuse and Recycle)
4. Waste Collection
5. Final Disposal
6. SWM Cost Reduction
7. Public Participation
8. Effective Community Meetings and Presentations
9. Public Education and Awareness Raising

Part C: SWM Action Plan

1. Introduction
2. Scope
3. Understanding the Present SWM Situation
4. Defining Your Vision and Objectives
5. Action Plan
6. Developing Strategies and Measures
7. Implementation
8. Evaluation

Part D: References
D-1
D-2
D-3

Guidelines on solid waste disposal and landfill establishments
Incineration Guidelines
Guidelines for Treatment and Disposal of Hazardous Waste

PART A
Present status of SWM in Pakistan and strategy for its improvement

Guideline for Solid Waste Management
Part A: Present status of SWM in Pakistan and strategy for its improvement

Present status of solid waste management in Pakistan and strategy for its
improvement
1. Review and analysis of present situation of solid waste Management in Pakistan
1.1
Introduction
1.2
Solid waste in Pakistan
1.3
Population and household estimates
1.4
Waste Generated and for Disposal - Urban and Rural
1.5
Waste Generation Estimates
1.6
Physical Composition of Waste
1.7
Waste Collection and Street Sweeping
1.8
Waste Collection Estimates
1.9
Waste Treatment and Disposal
1.10 Potential for Waste Recycling
1.11 Organization for the solid waste management
1.12 The Private/Informal Sector
1.13 Expenditure on Solid Waste Management
1.14 Hazardous Waste
1.15 System Performance Indicators
1.16 Conclusions
2. Review of work carried out under pertinent previous and on-going initiatives
2.1
Introduction
2.2
Government of Pakistan’s 7-Point Agenda
2.3
Poverty Reduction Strategy, NEAP, and Local Government
(Devolution) Plan and Information Technology Policy
2.4
Poverty Reduction Strategy
2.5
National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP)
2.6
Other Government of Pakistan’s Initiatives
3. Assessment of the availability, accessibility, quality and relevance of available data
and identification of gaps
4. Review of existing legal framework on solid waste management
5. Review of existing institutional mechanism
6. estimation of future solid waste generation
7. Strategies for solid waste management in Pakistan
7.1
Introduction
7.2
Aim and strategic objectives of the strategy
7.3
Objective 1: Upgrade waste collection and transfer
7.4
Objective 2: Improve waste disposal and treatment
7.5
Objective 3: Reduce waste and maximize waste recovery
7.6
Objective 4: Improve hazardous waste management
7.7
Objective 5: Achieve sustainability and cost recovery
7.8
Objective 6: Strengthen institutional and organizational capacity
7.9
Objective 7: Increase involvement of key stakeholders and raise
awareness

2


Reference:
Tables
Table 1.1-1
Table 1.1-2
Table 1.3-1
Table 1.3-2
Table 1.5
Table 1.6-1
Table 1.6-2
Table 1.6-3

Province wise population and rural/urban
Population of ten major cities of Pakistan
Population Estimates (000’s)
Household Estimates (000’s)
Physical Composition of Waste (% weight)
Typical Composition of Solid Waste in Pakistani Cities (%)
Typical Composition of Solid Waste Constituents in USA and
Britain
Table 1.8
Table 1.9
Paste Disposal Practice
Table 1.10
Potential for Waste Recycling
Table 1.11-1 Organization for Solid Waste Management
Table 1.11-2 Ratio of total staff to population, household and waste collected.
Table 1.13
Expenditure on Solid Waste Management
Table 1.14
Sources of Hazardous Waste
Table 1.15
Indicators of System Performance.
Table 4.1
Solid Waste Management Laws to be enacted
Table 6.1
Solid waste Generation on the basis of population for 2004

3


Map of Pakistan

4


1. REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF PRESENT SITUATION OF SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN

1.1

Introduction

Pakistan, like other developing countries, faces serious environmental
problems. Rapid population growth (average annual growth rate of 2.61 percent a
year) and impressive GDP growth (of about 6 percent a year) have put enormous
pressure on the country’s natural resource base and have significantly increased
levels of pollution. Pakistan did not address the issues of sustainable development
and environmental protection in the national decision-making process. Unregulated
use of forests, land, water, urbanization, expansion of agriculture but not attempting
to increase the crop yield, misuse of pesticides, ecological and health-wise hazardous
industrial processes are due to in-sensitivities to poverty-environment nexus and
flaws in policies.
Solid waste collection by government owned and operated services in
Pakistan's cities currently averages only 50 percent of waste quantities generated;
however, for cities to be relatively clean, at least 75 percent of these quantities should
be collected. To achieve this level, a large capital investment is required. Demand for
services will grow as urban populations grow and as per capita waste generation
rates grow; the latter is projected at one to three percent per year. The increased
quantity of waste will also place greater demands on disposal services, thereby
exacerbating an already poor situation since present disposal methods for solid waste
are totally inadequate. Disposal is by open dumping, primarily on flood plains and
into ponds, causing significant environmental damage.
Unfortunately, none of the cities in Pakistan has a proper solid waste
management system right from collection of solid waste upto its proper disposal.
Much of the uncollected waste poses serious risk to public health through clogging of
drains, formation of stagnant ponds, and providing breeding ground for mosquitoes
and flies with consequent risks of malaria and cholra. In addition, because of the lack
of adequate disposal sites, much of the collected waste finds its way in dumping
grounds, open pits, ponds, rivers and agricultural land. Environmental degradation
is not only well advanced already, but also is getting progressively worse as the
country’s population, urbanisation and industrialisation increase, and as its economy
develops generally.
This concern has led to a growing recognition that economic development and
the health and well-being of Pakistan’s population are closely linked with improved
environmental management and protection. Resource capture opportunities often
prompt a migration of dispossessed inhabitants from affected areas in search of a better
life. Receiving areas-whether rural or urban- are frequently ecologically vulnerable and
are further degraded as incoming migrants place an additional stress on existing
resources.
According to the 1998 census, of the 130.579 million persons living in Pakistan,
67% live in rural areas, while 33 % live in urban areas. (Table 1.1-1)

5


Table 1.1-1 Province wise population and rural/urban
Area

Households
(million)
Pakistan
19.701
Rural
13.450
Urban
6.250
NWFP
2.301
Rural
1.889
Urban
0.411
FATA
0.357
Rural
0.347
Urban
0.009
Punjab
10.718
Rural
7.444
Urban
3.274
Sindh
5.170
Rural
2.911
Urban
2.258
Balochistan
1.018
Rural
0.814
Urban
0.204
Islamabad
0.136
Rural
0.043
Urban
0.092
Source: Population and housing census of Pakistan 1998

Population
(million)
130.579
88.121
42.458
17.554
14.581
2.973
3.137
3.054
0.083
72.585
49.885
22.699
29.991
15.329
14.661
6.511
4.995
1.516
0.799
0.274
0.524

Furthermore, out of 33 % of persons living in urban areas, 54 % of them live in
ten major cities of Pakistan. Table 1.1-2
Table 1.1-2

Population of ten major cities of Pakistan

City

Households
(million)
Karachi
1.436
Lahore
0.740
Faisalabad
0.278
Rawalpindi
0.220
Multan
0.162
Hyderabad
0.178
Gujranwala
0.151
Peshawar
0.149
Quetta
0.074
Islamabad
0.092
Source: Population and housing census of Pakistan 1998

Population
(million)
9.269
5.063
1.977
1.406
1.182
1.151
1.124
0.988
0.560
0.524

During the last several decades, migration has occurred from rural to urban
areas. The chief factors responsible for this migration are: slow progress in the
agriculture sector, low crop yields, lack of alternate employment opportunities and
environmental degradation due to water logging/salinity, deforestation and
desertification. The large rural influx has, in turn, contributed to the overburdening
of urban infrastructure and urban services. There has not only been a rapid decline
in the quality and availability of basic urban resources and amenities, such as
housing, potable water, transportation, electricity, gas, drainage and sewage but also
mushrooming of katchi abadis (squatter settlements), often located on the most
marginal land. Today, squatter settlements account for about 25 to 30% of Pakistan’s

6


overall urban population. The municipal institutions do not have sufficient resources
and technical capacity to accommodate the needs of increasing urban population.
The poor communities residing in urban settlements are often engaged in a
number of initiatives on self-help basis, e.g., solid waste management and recycling.
Almost all the paper, plastic, metals and glass are collected and re-used/recycled.
Thus the poor communities in urban settlements play a key role in waste recycling.
The only waste which remains on streets and collection points is the organic waste.
This could be used for making compost but neither the municipalities nor private
sector has moved towards full utilization of this business.

1.2

Solid waste in Pakistan

Presently domestic solid waste in Pakistan has not been carried out in a
sufficient and proper manner in collection, transportation and disposal or dumping
regardless of the size of the city: therefore the environmental and sanitary conditions
have become more serious year by year, and people are suffering from living such
conditions.
The scope of problems regarding solid waste management is very wide and
involves the consideration of all the aspects relating to solid waste and its
management, either directly or indirectly. These aspect may include rate of
urbanization, pattern and density of urban areas, physical planning and control of
development, physical composition of waste, density of waste, temperature and
precipitation, scavenger’s activity for recyclable separation, the capacity, adequacy
and limitations of respective municipalities to manage the solid waste i.e. storage,
collection, transportation and disposal.

1.3

Population and household estimates

The number and growth of population and households is the foremost factor
affecting the solid waste and its management at various stages. According to a study
“Data collection of national study on privatization of solid waste management in eight
cities of Pakistan” conducted by Engineering Planning and Management Consultant
during 1996, the selected cities are growing at a growth rate from 3.67% to 7.42%
which is much higher than the overall growth rate of Pakistan, i.e. 2.8%. Major cities
of them are estimated to double their population in next ten years. These cities are
generating high amounts of solid waste which is increasing annually with the
respective population growth.
Table-1.3 presents statistics on the population and its growth rate in 1996,
2006 and 2016 for each of the selected cities.

7


Table 1.3-1
S.No

Cities

Population Estimates (000’s)

Census 1981

1996
1,759
2,364
10,522
1,733
1,655
82
1,000
60
21,171

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Gujranwala
601
Faisalabad
1,104
Karachi
5,208
Hyderabad
911
Peshawar
717
Bannu
48
Quetta
286
Sibi
28
Total
10,884
Source: EPMC Estimates, 1996

Estimated
2006
3,598
3,928
16,816
2,661
2,403
118
2,004
100
33,634

2016
7,361
6,528
26,873
4,085
3,489
169
4,017
166
54,704

The numbers of households also play an important role in generation and
collection of the solid waste. The average household size in the selected cities varies
from 6.7 to 7.3 persons. Table-1.3-2 presents size and number of households in each of
the selected cities.
Table 1.3-2
S.No

Cities

Household Estimates (000’s)
Number

Household
size

1981

1996

2006

2016

7.3
7

82
157

241
338

493
561

1,008
933

1
2

Gujranwala
Faisalabad

3

Karachi

7

744

1,503

2,402

3,839

4

Hyderabad

7

130

248

381

589

5

Peshawar

7

102

236

343

498

6

Bannu

6.7

7

12

18

25

7

Quetta

7

41

143

286

574

8

Sibi

6.7

4

9

15

25

3,248

4,726

6,505

9,507

Total

1.4

Waste Generated and for Disposal - Urban and Rural

It is important to note there is a big difference in Pakistan between solid
waste generation and the amounts reaching final disposal sites. In developed
countries, the two figures are usually much the same since most waste arisings must
be disposed of formally (although there are moves towards the segregation of some
components of waste at the source in a number of countries). In developing countries,
including Pakistan, much more of the waste arising is recovered, mostly by
scavengers, before it reaches the point of final disposal. For any figures related to the
quantification of wastes to have any meaning they must be interpreted with the
foregoing in mind. Also, estimating the amount of waste produced by households and
then finally reaching at disposal systems, the statistics can be unreliable.
The situation is made worse in Pakistan as there are no weighing facilities at
most of the disposal sites and no tradition of waste sampling and analysis. However,
the situation is changing and municipalities are realizing the importance of weighing
and recently weighinga facility has been installed at Disposal sites are Lahore.
Furthermore, the types and quantities of wastes arising and reclaimed vary with the
locality and, to some extent, with the season; and areas with more traditional
8


lifestyles tend to generate relatively small quantities of waste, and segregation and
reclamation practices are more widespread.
As the population grows and affluence increases the quantity of solid waste
also is increasing. This is a logical relationship and is in accord with experience
internationally. In any country the amount of solid waste generated varies with the
standard of living of its people. The composition of municipal waste depends to a
large extent on the affluence of the population contributing to the waste stream. It is
essential to know the composition of waste, both at the source and at disposal, to
assess the most suitable option for disposal and recovery. For example, the feasibility
of composting is determined by a combination of the quantities of waste generated
and the proportion of organic waste, amongst other factors. The quantity and organic
content of solid waste are much less in rural areas where many waste materials are
used traditionally and beneficially (e.g. for feeding animals, as soil conditioner, and
as fuel).

1.5


The Ministry of Environment and Urban Affairs Division, Government of
Pakistan undertook a study during 1996 on “Data Collection for Preparation of
National Study on Privatization of Solid Waste Management in Eight Selected Cities
of Pakistan”. The study revealed that the rate of waste generation on average from
all type of municipal controlled areas varies from 0.283 kg/capita/day to 0.613
kg/capita/day or from 1.896 kg/house/day to 4.29 kg/house/day in all the selected
cities from Sibi to Karachi. It shows a particular trend it shows a particular trend of
waste generation wherein increase has been recorded in accordance with city's
population besides its social and economic development. Table 2.5 presents city wise
waste generation rate with respective daily and annual estimate of solid waste.
Table 1.5
S.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Cities

Generation
Kg/c/day
0.469
0.391
0.613
0.563
0.489
0.439
0.378
0.283

Gujranwala
Faisalabad
Karachi
Hyderabad
Peshawar
Bannu
Quetta
Sibi
Total
Source: EPMC Estimates 1996

1.6

Rate
Kg/h/day
3.424
2.737
4.291
3.941
3.423
2.941
2.646
1.896

Physical Composition of Waste

Waste
Tons/day
824.0
924.3
6,450.0
975.7
809.3
36.0
378.0
17
10,414.3

Generated
Tons/year
300,760
337,370
2,354,250
356,131
295,395
13,140
137,970
6,205
3,601,221

Solid waste in Pakistan is generally composed of plastic and rubber, metal,
paper and cardboard, textile waste, glass, food waste, animal waste, leaves, grass,
straws and fodder, bones, wood, stones and fines to various extents. The detailed
physical composition of waste are given in Table 1.6-1

9


Table 1.6-1
Items

Physical Composition of Waste (% weight)

GWA

FSD

KRI

HYD

PWR

BNU

QTA

SBI

5.00

4.80

6.40

3.60

3.70

5.30

8.20

7.70

0.30
2.50
1.80
3.20
1.50
3.20
14.70

0.20
2.10
1.60
5.20
1.30
2.90
17.20

0.75
4.10
2.40
8.40
1.50
3.00
21.00

0.75
2.40
1.50
4.70
1.60
2.00
20.00

0.30
2.10
1.90
4.30
1.30
1.70
13.80

0.30
3.30
1.60
2.30
1.20
0.20
16.30

0.20
2.20
1.30
5.10
1.50
2.00
14.30

0.00
2.00
1.40
5.30
2.40
0.80
8.40

1.00

0.80

3.00

5.80

7.50

2.40

1.70

4.00

12.80

15.60

14.00

13.50

13.60

14.70

10.20

14.50

0.80

0.70

2.25

2.25

0.60

0.50

1.50

1.00

47.50

43.00

29.70

38.90

42.00

45.40

44.00

44.80

Stones
5.70
4.60
Source: EPMC Estimates 1996

3.50

3.00

7.30

6.50

7.80

7.70

Plastic &
Rubber
Metals
Paper
Card board
Rags
Glass
Bones
Food Waste
Animal
Waste
Leaves,
grass etc.
Wood
Fines

There is considerable content of plastic in the solid waste generated in
Pakistan which is a cause of great concern. Plastic waste is released during all stages
of production and post consumption every plastic product is a waste. Both the
quantity and quality of plastic waste cause environmental problems. Quantitatively
post consumption plastic waste is more important. This is so as they are found in
large volumes and less weights. Most waste plastic recovered by the formal sector
comes from industrial waste, which is less contaminated than the post-consumer
stream. This waste is taken care of by the formal recycling sector. The much more
heterogeneous domestic waste stream is left to the mercy of the informal sector. Some
of the environmental issues of plastic waste are litter, emissions of hydrogen
chlorides and dioxins from incinerators; and contamination from chemical additives.
Plastic waste also presents a direct hazard to wildlife. Eliminating plastic bags
improves the quality of compost and reduce the amount of waste requiring disposal.
Kraft bags decompose with the compost, whereas plastic bags don't break down and
must be land filled. Currently, no technology exists that is capable of screening out all
plastic from the compost. The removal of the plastic bags from the composting
program will dramatically reduce the operational costs associated with our
composting operation
The composition of waste has revealed that there is a considerable potential in
solid waste management to make it a profitable enterprise. It may be realised that
through sale of recyclable, composting, energy production and use of waste as earth
filler; almost whole of the waste can be put into one of the above said uses. Only
hazardous waste from hospitals and industries needs separate arrangements for its
management. The typical composition of municipal solid waste in Pakistan is shown
in Table 1.6-2. A typical data from the United States and Britain are shown in Table
1.6-3 for comparison.

10


Table 1.6-2

Typical Composition of Solid Waste in Pakistani Cities (%)

Composition

%
8.4% to 21 %

Food Waste
Leaves, grass, straw, Fodder
Fines
Recyclables

10.2 % to 15.6 %
29.7 % to 47.5 %
13.6 % to 23.55 %


Table 1.6-3 Typical Composition of Solid Waste Constituents in USA and Britain (%)
Composition
USA %
Britain %
Food
7
20
Yard Waste
18
4
Plastic
8
7
Glass
7
10
Metals
8
10
Miscellaneous
12
8
Others
8
Source (USA): Thomas J. Cichonski and Karen Hill, Ed. Recycling Sourcebook, 1993.
Source (UK): Newel, J. Recycling Britain. New Scientific, September 1990:46.

It is clear from the above tables that Pakistan's urban (municipal) solid waste
differs considerably from that of cities in developed countries (which is to be expected).
One reason for this is that there is a wide range from poverty to affluence in
Pakistan’s urban population; another is that much of the waste is reclaimed for
recycling at various stages from arising to final disposal.
Waste characteristics vary according to the extent of urbanisation, the income
level of the area, and the degree of its industrialisation and commercialization

1.7

Waste Collection and Street Sweeping

A number of municipalities of selected cities have deployed the sweepers and
sanitary workers. The workers collect the solid waste from small heaps and dustbins
with the help of wheel borrows, brooms, etc. and store at formal and informal depots
and carry out sweeping of streets and roads. It has been noted that the service of
street/road sweeping is not regular and mainly limited to administrative, commercial
and other industrial areas.
Further, the number of formal collection bins such as masonry enclosures,
containers and trolleys are too less to accommodate their waste generated in these
cities. Further these points are not located according to population and area
requirements. It is the reason that a large number of open heaps are visible in some
cities.

1.8


In Pakistan, solid waste is mainly collected by municipalities and waste
collection efficiencies range from 0 percent in low-income rural areas to 90 percent in
high-income areas of large cities. The proportion of waste collected is much less in
many other areas of the country, particularly in poorer areas, where the only means
of solid waste disposal is often informal scavenging by people and animals, natural
biodegradation and dispersion, burning at the primary point of disposal, and local
self-help for disposal to informal (technically illegal) dumping sites.

11


The responsibility of municipal solid waste management rests basically with
the municipality. In Pakistan, traditionally in big cities, the City District
Government, collect waste from households in middle to high-income areas and
municipalities are in charge of street sweeping.
Public waste collection is usually not efficient and mainly they do not have
sufficient funds. Therefore, there is now a trend towards subcontracting a substantial
part of waste collection and street sweeping services to private companies, which will
be comparatively with higher efficiency. Subcontracting to private companies has so
far not been fully practiced in Pakistan. Furthermore, there are a number of NGOs
like Waste Buster that are active in waste collection and have done remarkable work.
Collection rate of solid waste by respective municipalities ranges from 51% to
69% of the total waste generated within their jurisdiction. The uncollected waste, i.e.,
31% to 49% remains on street or road corners, open spaces and vacant plots, polluting
the environment on continuous basis. The rate and amount of the waste collected in
all the selected cities are given in Table 1.8
Table 1.8
S.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Cities

Gujranwala
Faisalabad
Karachi
Hyderabad
Peshawar
Bannu
Quetta
Sibi
Total

1.9

Collection
Rate %
52.0
54.0
53.0
51.0
61.0
68.0
50.0
69.0

Daily Collection
Tons/day
428
499
3,419
498
494
24
189
12
5,563

Waste
Tons/day(300days)
128,500
149,737
1,025,550
149,282
148,102
7,344
56,700
3,519
1,668,734

Waste Treatment and Disposal

The waste is disposed off within or outside municipal limits into low lying
areas like ponds etc, without any treatment except recyclable separation by
scavengers. The land is also hired/leased on long term basis for disposal. Moreover,
the least mitigating measures have also not been reported from any municipality.
Table 1.9 represent the city wise disposal practice with allied facilities for the eightselected city:
Table 1.9
Existing Dumps
No
Cities
Number
Size
1 Gujranwala
3
2 Faisalabad
4
3
Karachi
Many
4 Hyderabad Many plots
5 Peshawar 1(on lease) 5 acres
6
Bannu
2
7
Quetta
1
8
Sibi
Many Fields

Waste Disposal Practice
Recyclables Treatment Mitigating
Separation
Plant
Measures
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil
Scavengers
Nil
Nil

12

Proposed landfill
site
Nil
Nil
Nil
Plg stage
Nil
50 K, Purchased
Nil
Nil


Treatment and disposal technologies such as sanitary land filling, composting
and incineration are comparatively new in Pakistan. Crude open dumping is the most
common practice throughout Pakistan and dumpsites are commonly set alight to
reduce the volume of accumulating waste, hence adding to the air pollution caused by
the uncovered dumped waste itself.
The practice of sanitary land filling is still in its infancy in Pakistan and the
first site has yet to be developed. At present, there are no landfill regulations or
standards that provide a basis for compliance and monitoring, but national guidelines
for these standards are being prepared by the Consultant under NEAP SP.
There is also need that the Government of Pakistan should put forward a
clearly opted policy of waste recovery, as well on composting. Compost is considered
an attractive product because of its possible use as a soil conditioner for agricultural
use.
There is a need for establishment of at least one windrow composting plants in
each province to promote composting. However, most of the composting plants built
by the private sector that have already been established do not operate efficiently nor
at full capacity. Sales revenues usually hardly cover operating expenses, let alone
depreciation costs.

1.10 Potential for Waste Recycling

Under the present system, the municipalities are not carrying out any type of
recycling activity. What happens normally is that the main recyclable items like
paper, plastic, glass and metals are retained by the people themselves, which are
later sold to street hawkers/waste dealers for recycling.
Whereas the recyclable mixed with discarded waste are picked up by the
scavengers who make 2 to 3 trips of different dumps and earn Rs 80 to 150/day. As a
whole, however, according to the estimates the amount of recyclable varies from 1,000
tons/years in Sibi to 513,743 tones/year in Karachi.
The total income works out to be Rs 5,056.5 million per year. Assuming a net
expenditure on the collection, storage, separation etc as 50%, the net incomes
expected to be Rs 2528.3 million per years. The city wise potential for waste recycling
are given in Table 1.10
Table 1.10
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

City

Recyclable
Ratio

Gujranwala
17.20
Faisalabad
18.10
Karachi
26.55
Hyderabad
16.55
Peshawar
15.30
Bannu
14.20
Quetta
20.50
Sibi
19.60
Total

Potential for Waste Recycling
Ann. Amount
Tons
42,518
50,189
513,743
48,444
37,147
10,800
23,247
1,000
727,088

13

Gross
Income Rs
(Million)
352.5
547.4
3,515.6
269.5
232.2
7.4
127.2
4.7
5,056.5

Net Income Rs
(Million) )
176.7
273.7
1,757.8
134.7
116.1
3.7
63.6
2.4
2,528.3


1.11 Organisation for the solid waste management
The municipalities of eight selected cities have employed the staff for
management of municipal solid waste ranging from 188 to 11905 persons including
the supervisory staff. The ratio of total staff to population, houses and waste collected
varies from 0.62/1000 to 3.54/1000 to 23.72/1000 and 2.63 ton to 15.67/ton
respectively. The details of number and ratios of total staff are given in table1.11.
Table 1.11-1 Organization for Solid Waste Management
No.

Cities

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Zone/Sector

Gujranwala
11
Faisalabad
2
Karachi
4
Hyderabad
1
Peshawar
2
Bannu
1
Quetta
1
Sibi
1
Total
23

Total
sup.
Staff
47
113
334
85
65
4
43
9
700

Supervisors
30
68
244
61
30
1
21
6
461

Total
Working
Staff
1,066
3,079
11,571
1,964
1,595
270
950
197
20,674

Sweeper/
Sanitary
Workers
1,046
2,689
11,142
1,860
1,171
165
870
110
19,053

Total
Staff
1,113
3,192
11,905
2,054
1,632
290
993
188
21,367

Table 1.11-2 Ratio of total staff to population, household and waste collected.
Ratio
Population
1
Gujranwala
0.62
2
Faisalabad
1.42
3
Karachi
1.13
4
Hyderabad
1.24
5
Peshawar
1.00
6
Bannu
3.54
7
Quetta
0.99
8
Sibi
3.13
No.

City

of total staff
Household (000’s)
4.53
9.94
9.91
6.68
7.00
23.72
6.93
20.97

To
Waste collected(000’s kg)
2.63
3.79
3.48
4.33
3.34
8.50
5.25
15.67

1.12 The Private/Informal Sector
In rural areas traditional practices continue to be followed today, but the
nature of village waste has changed and scavengers now collect new waste
(principally plastics, glass and paper) on an informal basis throughout Pakistan
wherever the quantities available offer sufficient (if often very little) profit.
As the city has grown, traditional waste disposal practices are dumping in
open spaces posses’ serious problem.
The public sector is mainly involved in overall solid waste management
throughout Pakistan. As Pakistan is moving towards further urbanization and
industrialization, new types of discarded material started to be used in low-income
urban areas. Similarly, major cities of Pakistan, like Karachi, Lahore, Rawlpindi, and
Faisalabad has potentially the greatest waste collection, transportation and disposal
problems and the public sector cannot tackle this problem alone. There is strong need
to gradually involve private sector in the solid waste management by offering
incentives. There is no organized private sector of waste collection and recycling in
operation in Pakistan. Although, there are success stories by NGOs and privet sector
14


like Waste Buster. While, now there is realizations on the part of municipalities to
privatize solid waste collection and transportation and establishment of composting
plants but it requires transparency in the award of contracts to private parties on
Build Operate and Transfer basis.

1.13 Expenditure on Solid Waste Management

According to the study of selected cities, it has been estimated that Rs.
1037.38 million are annually spent on solid waste management by eight
municipalities. The annual expenditure on Solid Waste Management per ton waste
collected, per capita and per house varies from Rs 334 to Rs 1000, Rs 35 to Rs 90 and
Rs 224 to 603 respectively. Table 2.14 presents city wise municipal expenditure and
its ratio to waste collected, population and houses.
Table 1.13

Expenditure on Solid Waste Management

Total
No
City
Expenditure
(Million Rs)
1
Gujranwala
60.63
2
Faisalabad
106.00
3
Karachi
688.00
4
Hyderabad
78.52
5
Peshawar
49.57
6
Bannu
7.34
7
Quetta
43.32
8
Sibi
4.00
Total
1,037

Rs/Ton

Rs/Capita/year

Rs/house/year

392
796
551
453
334
1,000
627
934
Avg. 636

35
50
65
47
32
90
43
67
Avg. 54

255
350
455
329
224
603
301
449
371

1.14 Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste is any waste or combination of waste that poses a
substantial danger, now or in the future, to human, plant or animal life and which
therefore cannot be handles or disposed of without special precautions. The
hazardous solid waste is being generated in Pakistan from the following six sectors:
Sectors
Agriculture
Hospitals,
clinical and
Laboratories
Small Scale
Industry
Large Scale
Industries
Commerce

Household

Table 1.14

Sources of Hazardous Waste

Sources
Planting
areas
and
plant
protection/agriculture
department, warehouses
Clinic
consulting
rooms,
operation theaters, hospitals,
wards, laboratories

Metal processing, photo finishing,
textile
processing,
printing,
leather tanning
Bauxite processing, oil refining
petrochemical
manufacture,
pharmaceutical
manufacture,
chlorine production
Vehicles services and airports,
dry
cleaning,
electrical
Transformers,
bus
stations,
workshops, petrol pumps
Homes

15

Type of wastes
Obsolete
pesticides,
herbicides,
insecticides, used chemical containers
and contaminated soils.
Infected human tissues and organs,
excreta, blood, sharp instruments,
laboratory equipment and tissue
cultures drugs etc.
Acids, heavy metals solvents, acids,
silver cadmium, mineral acid solvents,
inks, dyes solvent, chromium etc.
Rig mud, spent catalysts, oily waste,
tarry residues, solvents, mercury.

Oily, hydraulic fluids, halogenated
solvents, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), water management, specialist
tyres, plastic etc.
Used fluorescent tubes, batteries,
drugs, cosmetics, vehicle care material.


In Pakistan, there is no systematic mechanism for the collection and disposal
of hazardous waste generated from hospital, industries and agriculture activities.
The collection and disposal of hazardous waste is mainly the responsibility the
municipal corporations, which comes under the Local Government and Rural
Development. However, in practice local authorities are handling and disposing of
significant quantities of hazardous waste, often without any consistent procedures,
and sometimes with no knowledge of the serious problems they may create.
Industrial pollution is a major problem in Pakistan, and little effort has been
made until comparatively recently, either to use clean production technologies, or to
adopt end-of-pipe methods of pollution control. The minimal response of industry to
Solid Waste is mainly due to the poor performance of the sector, lack of information
about new technologies and high investments required for changing the processes
coupled with weak regulatory mechanism.
Pollution problems affect both large enterprises in such industries as
chemicals, petroleum refining, sugar, paper and pulp and iron and steel, as well as
the many clusters of small- and medium-sized enterprises in industries such as
leather, textiles, marble polishing and food processing.
There is no authenticated study to contain data of hazardous waste generated
by industry in Pakistan. According to WWF Pakistan, around 250,000 tons of medical
waste is annually produced from all sorts of health care facilities in the country.
Similarly, according, to a study conducted by GTZ on “Inventory of Obsolete
pesticides in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan” by Mr. Wolfgang A Schimpf, it has been
estimated that the stocks of outdated pesticides lying in Pakistan is between 1,000 to
1,500 tons.
Most Pakistani industries, located around major cities, are increasingly
polluting streams, rivers and the Arabian Sea through untreated hazardous waste.
Major industrial contributors to the pollution are the pulp and paper, chemicals,
petrochemicals, refining, metalworking, food processing, and textile industries. Some
of waste is biodegradable, but much of it is in the form of chemical compounds that do
not degrade and cause damage to environment.
In Karachi alone more then 6,000 industrial enterprises, some 60 % of the
country’s industry, are located along the coastal belt. In Punjab, the industries are
located in Lahore and Kala Shah Kaku Industrial Estate, including chemical
industries, tanneries, textile plants, steel re-rolling mills etc. There are a number of
small ad medium scale enterprises (SME) sector, particularly industries in two
triangles Lahore–Sheikhupura-Faisalabad and Lahore-Gujranwala-Sailkot, generate
significant pollution load that also finds its way into streams. More then 250
industrial units in Faisalabad discharges high levels of solids, heavy metals, aromatic
dyes, inorganic salts and organic materials directly into the municipal sewers and
open surface drains, ultimately leading to Ravi River. Discharge from the industries
in Sialkot area generally reaches the Chanab River, while from Kasur, where the
major tanneries of Pakistan are located, it is disposed off through the Pandoki drain
into the Sutlej River. In North West Frontier Province (NWFP), industrial units
mainly cluster around Peshawar such as Jamrod Industrial Estate and industrial
clusters on Kohat Road and Charsadda Road. Out of 40 major units, only two have
wastewater treatment facilities while others discharge their effluent into lakes and
tributaries of the Indus River, mainly the Kabul River.
16


There are Guidelines for Hospital Waste Management since 1998 prepared by
the Environmental Health Unit of the Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan,
giving detailed information and covering all aspects of safe hospital waste
management in the country including the risk associated with the waste, formation of
a waste management team in hospitals, its responsibilities, plan, collection,
segregation, transportation, storage, disposal methods, containers, and their color
coding, waste minimization techniques etc.
However, these guidelines are not implemented. There are no systematic
approaches to medical waste disposal. Hospital wastes are simply mixed with the
municipal waste in collecting bins at roadsides and disposed of similarly. Some waste
is simply buried without any appropriate measure. A common practice in Pakistan is
the reuse of disposable syringes. People pick up used syringes from the hospital waste
and sell them.

1.15 System Performance Indicators
The following ratios calculated on the basis of analysis in earlier sections,
depict the real performance of existing solid waste management in the eight selected
cities of Pakistan.
Table 1.15

Indicators of System Performance.

No
System Indicators
1
Rate of Waste Generation
2
Rate of Waste Generation/House
3
Rate of Waste Collection
4
Expenditure/Waste Collected
5
Expenditure/Person/Year
6
Expenditure/House/Year
7
Total Staff/Population
8
Population/Staff Member
9
Total/Staff Member
10
Houses/Staff Member
11
Total Staff/Waste Collected
12
Waste Collection/Staff Member

System Performance
0.283 to 0.613 Kg/c/d
1.896 to 4.291 Kg/h/d
51 to 69 Percent
334 to 1000 Rs/Ton
35 to 90 Rs/c/y
244 to 603 Rs/h/y
0.62 to 3.54 Staff/1000 persons
282 to 1613 Person/Staff
4.53 to 23.72 Staff/1000 Houses
42.00 to 221.00 Houses/Staff
2.63 to 1567 Staff/Ton
64 to 380 Kg/Staff

The rate of waste generation in the selected cities is quite in line with World
Bank Standard for developing countries which is 0.3 to 0.6 Kg/c/d, whereas the
collection rate is too less in major cities in comparison with other developing
countries. The expenditure made by the municipalities on solid waste management is
almost matching but with lower limit of the range recommended by the World Bank
i.e. Rs 70 to 105/capita/year. The waste collected per staff member in selected cities is
less than other developing countries like Egypt (250 Kg) and Indonesia (300 Kg).
Further, the ratio of total staff to population i.e. 0.62 to 3.54 members/1000
population does not conform to range of workers in developing countries of SouthEast Asia i.e. 2 to 5/1000 in developing countries of South East Asia.
During 2004, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study of Solid Waste
Management in Four Cities of Pakistan which is as follows:
Hyderabad has about 1,270 tons of solid is generated daily out of which 920 tons of waste is
collected daily and 350 remains uncollected. Which is due to non-availability of sufficient

17


vehicles, non-availability of budget, non-availingly of funds, non-viability of proper land
filling site and non-availability of sufficient staff?
Faisalabad is faced with unplanned industrialization and there is an inadequate
arrangement for the collection, transportation and safe disposal of municipal solid waste.
There is unsafe transportation of municipal solid waste in overloaded/open vehicles. There is
unsafe disposal of hazardous waste of hospitals. Only two hospitals (Allied and District
Headquarter Hospital) have the facility of incineration.
During 2004, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study on Urban
Environmental Problems in Pakistan ( A case study for urban environment in Hayatabad,
Peshawar which concluded as follows:
The waste generated per household is 5.5 kg, whereas waste generated per capita per
day is 0.66 kg. The total waste generated in Hayatabad is 67,000 kg per day.
The mode of transportation of solid waste is mainly donkey carts to the dumping site,
situated at Phase VII, which is now abandoned. Two garbage trucks are also used for
waste collection from parks and commercial areas. These trucks also collect waste from
primary collection points. The donkey carts are collecting garbage from door to door.
This service is provided by the owners of the donkey cart for their own interest to
segregate the saleable items from the garbage. Most of the solid about 90 % comprised
its organic such as vegetable/fruits and other kichen waste. Saleable or recycled items
from solid waste generated in Hayatabad are only 5.5%. Big chunk of solid waste, which
is organic are also taken out before going to dumping site by the scavengers to use as a
feed to animals.
Presently, there is no proper dumping site of solid waste in Hayatabad after shutting
down the Phase VII site. Now these two trucks are only dumping waste approximately
10 to 15 tons per day to the site located some 15 km away from Hayatabad. Donkey
carts owners are dumping garbage waste in ditches and excavated areas of Hayatabad.

The Solid Waste Management and Environment Enhancement Project (Sweep), was
funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during 1997 -2001 at a cost of .
The project is based on a two pronged strategy, i.e. mobilization of human resource and social
capital for attaining efficient and sustainable solid waste management system in Rawalpindi.
The community mobilization in SWEEP was undertaken through the active involvement of
NGOs and CBOs, providing them an opportunity to demonstrate the best of their ability to
meet project objectives within their designated wards and to build a "model" for participatory
waste management systems. The communities were involved to segregate the waste at
household level and obtain optimum benefits from the waste resources.
Furthermore, social mobilization under SWEEP was linked with the Preparatory Assistance
(PA) phase of the Programme for Improvement of Livelihoods in Urban Settlements (PLUS).
With the objective of creating "Civil Society Organizations", the PA phase developed a
strategy and an action plan for large scale implementation on participatory approaches. The
project was executed and implemented by the Project Management Unit (PMU) of Rawalpindi
Municipal Corporation. The project completed its life in June 2001, the salient achievements
are:
RMC waste collecting capacity increased to 80% (Compared to 40-50 % in 1997). The
project is active in 75 wards out of 77 wards of the city, including more than 84,500
households.
Community participation in planning and management at city level strengthened. 153
Sweep Committees and 37 Community Organizations have been formed, actively
collaborating with SWEEP/RMC.
Communities' awareness of solid waste hazards increased. 1340 community members are
serving voluntarily as Lane Managers.
Primary waste collection system is improved with waste segregation at the source

18


contributing to income-generating activities.
Social and economic empowerment of women enhanced. Women have played a crucial
role in the implementation of the project through waste segregation at the source. Some
62 % of all Lane Managers are women.
Children and youth are participating through the 106 school/college SWEEP
Environment Clubs formed by SWEEP.
Linkages with line agencies in the Education Department, Health Department and
Environment Department established.
A Community Participating Unit has been established in RMC.
Network of Community Organization has been facilitated providing a forum for nongovernmental stakeholders to debate issues on solid waste management and to
strengthen the dialogue with government agencies.
Experience sharing visits and workshops with institutions and organizations from within
or outside of the city conducted.

19


2.16 Conclusions
The overall conclusion of the study on present status of solid waste
management in Pakistan as follows:
There is an overall fragmented and reactive approach to the solid waste
management in Pakistan. There is a limited focus on control mechanisms which
is adversely effecting on safety, health and the environment. There is insufficient
information on the quantity and composition of waste being generated as such
there is an inadequate waste planning.
There is Pakistan Environmental Protection Act but its regulations are
inadequately enforced and solid waste management does not seem to be a
priority.
There is inadequate waste collection system as it collects only 51-69% of the total
waste generated.
Municipal collection of household waste is quite irregular and limited to
influential areas. As a result solid waste remains scattered throughout the
remaining area.
Number of dustbins and constructed filth depots are too less in comparison with
urban population. Furthermore, most of them are not located according to
community's requirements.
Moreover, the people are also dominantly
inhabitable to make use of such facilities.
Municipal street sweeping services are irregular and limited to main roads and
influential areas.
Many vehicles available with respective municipalities are reported out of order
while remaining is used for many other purposes besides the misuse by staff.
The operations of loading and unloading of municipal solid waste are generally
manual.
There is a generally inadequate disposal service and no weighing facilities are
installed at most of the disposal sites.
Physical layout of cities which are characterized with narrow and blind streets
restricts the extension of municipal services to these areas.
The most of municipalities have been unable to manage some reasonable piece of
land either owned or on lease for the disposal of waste, owing to the lack of funds.
The scavengers play an important role in solid waste management as they
separate recyclable at various stages of existing SWM but there is little support
for recycling. During their operation they have been found spreading the waste
further and making it more complex to deal with.
There is poor management of hazardous waste, under the current disposal
practice; no proper method is being employed. Hazardous hospital and industrial
wastes are being simply treated as ordinary waste. Open burning of waste
especially non-degradable components like plastic bags are adding to air
pollution.
Municipalities do spend considerable portion of their budgets on solid waste
management but as a return receive limited tax which is insufficient to meet
their operation and maintenance costs. This is one of the main reasons why
these municipalities can not afford latest techniques and equipment to make
solid waste management a profitable enterprise and to achieve the desired
standards of environmental quality.

20


2.. REVIEW OF WORK CARRIED OUT UNDER PERTINENT PREVIOUS AND ONGOING INITIATIVES

2.1 Introduction
There are various on-going/pipeline projects that form a linkage with the
NEAP Support Programme as there is an overlap of some of the outputs and
activities planned under these projects and those planned under different Programme
Components.
The Planning & Development Division at the federal level and Planning &
Development Departments at the provincial levels are responsible for the preparation
of development plans and allocation of resources. At the federal level, the Ministry of
Environment, Local Government and Rural Development are responsible for the
development of policies and programmes under the environment theme. The
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) and provincial EPAs are the
main regulatory bodies for environmental monitoring. Overall planning including
planning for poverty reduction is the responsibility of the Planning Commission at
the federal level. The concerned line departments, such as agriculture, water, health,
education, municipalities, etc. are responsible for the implementation. The present
Poverty Reduction Strategy views poverty in a more holistic manner, and several line
departments are involved in its implementation.

2.2

Government of Pakistan’s 7-Point Agenda

Pakistan’s political history is chequered with many attempts at delivering a
better life for people; however, these initiatives have on the contrary resulted in
causing the people further dismay. The non-use, misuse and abuse of political and
administrative systems have led to a profound institutional crisis that has slowed
down national development and threatened the future. To address the institutional
crisis, the present Government has elaborated a seven point agenda, which is as
follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Rebuild national confidence and morale.
Strengthen the federation, remove inter-provincial disharmony.
Revive economy and restore investor confidence.
Ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice.
De-politicize state institutions.
Devolution of power to grassroots level.
Ensure swift and across the board accountability.

The Government of Pakistan has announced a strategy for the reconstruction
of local government that not only addresses the agenda point on “Devolution of Power
and Responsibility” to the grassroots level but also the rest of the six points as the
reconstruction process applies a bottom-up approach. It includes the following key
elements:
Devolution of power for the genuine empowerment of citizens.
Decentralization of administrative authority.
Decentralization of professional functions.
Diffusion of power for checks and balances to preclude autocracy.
Distribution of resources to the provincial and local level.

21


The Government of Pakistan has also established a National Reconstruction
Bureau, which is preparing policies and plans for economic revival, strengthening of
public institutions and preparing action plans for implementing the devolution plan.

2.3 Poverty Reduction Strategy, NEAP, and Local Government
(Devolution) Plan and Information Technology Policy
Addressing the poverty-environment nexus holistically stands very high on
national development agenda. To this effect, Government priorities and strategies
can be found in the following major documents. Alternatively stated, the actions and
measures outlined in these documents forms the main elements of the national
programme to address the issues related to poverty--environment nexus.
Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
More recently, the Government has taken concrete steps to implement the
Devolution of Power Plan and Information Technology Policy. Both these initiatives
provide necessary impetus to translate the actions and measures proposed in the
above-referred documents into reality--thus paving the way to achieve the goal of
sustainable environmental management.

2.4

Poverty Reduction Strategy

The Government of Pakistan is in the process of finalizing the Interim Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP), in collaboration with all the stakeholders, including
the Brettonwoods Institutions, multi /bi-lateral donors and UN Agencies. In the draft
paper, poverty has been defined as a multi-dimensional concept, which encompasses
economic, political, and social needs that are sine qua non for a meaningful and
complete existence. It has been realized that the poor are not simply deprived of income
and resources, but they lack basic capabilities like education, health and clean drinking
water. Low capabilities combined with social exclusion make it difficult for the poor to
access the markets. Moreover, limited access to education, health and nutrition limits
their ability to secure gainful employment. However, even if they succeed, these
deprivations retard their ability to be productive participants in the economic process
thus denying them the opportunity of bringing about an improvement in their lives.
Besides income poverty, lack of resources makes them vulnerable to exogenous shocks.
This is further exacerbated by institutions of governance that tend to exclude the most
vulnerable from the entire decision making process.
The IPRSP aims at forging broad-based alliances with civil society in the quest
to eliminate poverty and ensure development. The complex and multi-dimensional
nature of poverty warrants that strategies for poverty reduction should encompass
plans for rapid pro-poor economic growth, sound macroeconomic policies, structural
reforms and social improvement. Therefore, the focus of strategy is on:
Ensuring broad based economic growth that generates efficient income generating
opportunities for the poor and a pattern of growth that is relatively labor intensive.
Achieving the highest possible growth path that is consistent with the available
financial and human capital.
Ensuring improved access to education, vocational skills training, primary
healthcare, nutrition and other social services that help the poor become productive

22


employees and make them capable of starting their own business ventures on a
small scale.
Provision of social safety nets for the most vulnerable groups who cannot work, e.g.,
the sick, the old and those who live in resource-poor and drought prone regions.
Directing public policy debate on the needs of the poor.
Bringing about an effective transformation of society, by forging partnerships and
alliances with civil society and the private sector.
Empowering the people, especially the most deprived, by increasing access to
factors of production, particularly land and credit.
Creation of employment opportunities for all.
The key elements of the PRS include: (a) introducing a series of macroeconomic
and sectoral reforms; (b) promoting agricultural policies geared towards robust and
sustainable growth through efficient import-substitution, export orientation, enhanced
productivity and poverty reduction; (c) developing an open, market driven, innovative
and dynamic industrial sector; and (d) and using information technology as an impetus
to generate economic growth in the country. In addition, the PRSP views environment
and natural resource management as the main factors which could significantly
contribute in poverty alleviation, through community mobilization and organization for
improved governance with a focus on minimizing environmental degradation and
pollution, eliminating the root causes of environmental degradation (population
pressures and poverty) and integration of environment and development to achieve
sustainable development.

2.5


The first effort to introduce specific legislation for environmental protection in
Pakistan was made in 1977. Since then, many institutional, policy and regulatory
developments have taken place at the federal and provincial levels. These include,
among others, the creation of the Ministry of Environment and environmental
protection agencies, promulgation of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act in
1977 and the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance in 1983. In 1992, the
Pakistan National Conservation Strategy (NCS) was developed, and in 1999 the NCS
was subject to mid-term review. The NEAP was approved by the Pakistan
Environment Protection Council chaired by the Chief Executive in February 2001.
The development objective of the NEAP is to initiate actions and programmes
for achieving a state of the environment that safeguards public health, promotes
sustainable livelihoods, and enhances quality of life of the people of Pakistan. It will
focus on taking immediate measures to achieve a visible improvement in the rapidly
deteriorating quality of air, water and land, through effective co-operation between
the government agencies and civil society.
Based on the lessons learnt from projects that have attempted to address the
issues of poverty-environment nexus, the NEAP strategy calls for shifting the focus,
capacities and resources in a limited number of core areas where a high level of
impact can be achieved in the near term. It recommends a programme approach as
opposed to project approach which has evident merits, such as a higher level of
flexibility in addressing core issues, maintaining priorities, directing the actions
towards pre-defined targets, and responding to cross-cutting issues, e.g., gender,
poverty reduction, capacity building, etc. The NEAP is based on poverty-environment
nexus and it is planned to take the following measures to achieve its objectives:

23


The focus will be shifted from completion of activities and delivery of services to
alleviating poverty, through environmental projects.
Under the umbrella of 1997 Environmental Protection Act, policy development
and enforcement efforts will be directed towards reducing health risks and
vulnerability in the poorer segments of the population.
Programmes for addressing deforestation, desertification, and rangeland
degradation will be integrated with the existing social mobilization and
organization initiatives at the grassroots level.
Support will be provided to the existing poverty alleviation programmes to make
them environmentally sound and to prevent unforeseen long-term impacts on the
poor.
Reliance on technical and human resources available within the country will be
maximized.
The execution will be through existing provincial government departments and
associated agencies, local governments, and rural support programmes and
NGOs operating at the grassroot level.
Enforcement will be supported by suitable regulatory and institutional
frameworks in consultation with stakeholders and impacted groups.
Well-defined outputs, measurable indicators and supporting monitoring and
information systems will be established to evaluate the achievements.
The institutional responsibilities for carrying out monitoring and evaluation will
be defined, and procedures for public disclosure of information on expenditures,
inputs and outputs will be developed to maintain transparency and
accountability.
The NEAP is implementing the above measures and actions through the
following major sub-programmes.
The clean air programme that will primarily focus on controlling of (i) vehicular
pollution; (ii) emissions from industries; and (iii) indoor air pollution in rural
areas.
The clean water programme that will target protecting water quality from: (ii)
domestic and municipal effluents; (ii) industrial effluents; and (iii) pesticides and
fertilizers.
The solid waste management programme that will aim at mobilizing
communities for adopting the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) principle of waste
management through setting of composting sites, municipal incinerators, levy of
taxes and charges for municipal services, empowerment of local governments and
enforcement of NEQS for the disposal of industrial wastes.
The ecosystems management programme that will initially focus on a small
number of representative ecosystems where management initiatives can be
tested. These will include ecosystems located in forests, rangelands, deserts,
wetlands, and coastal areas. Priority will be given to protected areas where the
government has a higher level of jurisdiction, and areas where pressures on land
use are representative of conditions commonly prevailing in the country.
The other areas of concern included in the NEAP are: (ii) management of fresh
water resources; (ii) marine pollution; (iii) toxic and hazardous substances; (IV)
energy conservation and management; and (v) compliance with international
treaties and protocols.
The major beneficiaries of NEAP will be the poor in rural and urban areas
who are suffering from air and water pollution and degradation of natural resources,
24


especially the women and children. The private sector will also benefit from NEAP
activities because of exposure to economical and eco-friendly production processes which
will result in creation of job opportunities. The second line of beneficiaries will be the
institutions at various levels and NGOs whose capacities will be strengthened as a
result of NEAP activities. Last but not the least, the beneficiaries of NEAP will be
several species of animals and plants, which are under severe threat due to degradation
of their ecosystems.
While the institutional/implementation mechanisms for the individual
programmes will inevitably vary, a common institutional framework has been
proposed by NEAP for efficient utilization of available resources. The framework is
based on ensuring high-level political and administrative commitment to the
programmes, allocation of sufficient resources, providing professional leadership, and
instituting a system of monitoring at all levels of implementation. It is planned to
encourage private sector, NG0s and citizen groups in the execution of projects to the
extent possible.
The NEAP implementation strategy calls for raising mass awareness at
different levels. It will be linked with the specific initiatives in the key departments
and institutions at the federal level including the EPA, Office of the Inspector
General of Forests Parks and Wildlife, and the Office of the Director General
Environment. Expertise for mass awareness will be made available in the
Programme Support Units attached to these departments.
The programme goes much beyond the technical scope of NEAP. It will provide
support in the implementation of main sub-programmes outlined above, strengthen
the implementation and monitoring arrangements envisaged in the NEAP, and will
further cover areas such as environmental disaster management in dry-land (drought
prone) areas, environmental governance, energy generation, and strengthening
capacities of CBOs in environmental management and natural resources
conservation.

2.6

Other Government of Pakistan’s Initiatives

As mentioned earlier, the Government of Pakistan has recently taken concrete
steps to implement the Devolution of Power Plan and Information Technology Policy.
These initiatives provide necessary impetus to translate the environmental
management agenda described above. Main features of these initiatives are
summarized below.
Devolution of Power Plan: In the present system, the local governments have not
enough authority over the development activities in their areas; therefore, their role in
the national development is limited. However, the present government has announced
a strategy for the reconstruction of local governments1. Under the new strategy, Village
Councils, Union Councils and District Councils are established through a democratic
process, which also allow equal representation of women in each council. The district
administration will be headed by the Chief Mayor (Nazim) and coordinated by a District
Coordination Officer (DCO). The Chief Mayor will create a development vision for the
district with the support of government, the private sector, civil society organizations
and the local level institutions, such as Village-, Union- and Tehsil-councils. A District
Officer heads each District Department.
The administration is consist of 13
1
Devolution of power and responsibility: District Government. National Reconstruction Bureau, Chief Executive Secretariat,
Islamabad, 2000.

25


departments, including one on Environment, headed by District Officers and Deputy
District Officer’s in-charge of specific functions within them. Assistant District Officers
is located in Tehsil towns, wherever possible. The district administration is initially be
set up with the existing line departments. However, it will gradually move towards the
corporate governance driven by an entrepreneurial approach.
The NEAP-SP will provide opportunities to the officials of line departments
engaged in development work with local communities in the pilot areas to implement
initiatives in sustainable development, particularly those, which are directly related
to poverty-environment nexus. Training in Participatory Learning & Monitoring
(PLM) as provided by the linked Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development
Facility set up in the Planning Commission, would facilitate flow of information and
refinement of plans at various levels. The members of various councils and Citizen
Community Boards (at the village level) 2 will surely need training/information in
sustainable development, participatory planning, implementation and monitoring,
and the programme play an instrumental role in this regard.
Information Technology Policy: The GOP has also launched its Information Technology
(IT) policy whereby software parks are being established in the country, along with
several other ventures, to absorb the youth in income generation activities. The
Information sharing through internet, e-conferencing, databases, e-workshops, e-study
tours, etc., would bridge the gap between the professionals, policy community and public
at large.
These activities will directly contribute in achieving the UNDP
Administrator’s and GOP’s plans for IT discussed under the Section on PRSP.
10 Year Perspective Plan 2001-2011: In addition to the above, the Government of
Pakistan is currently working on the development of a 10 year perspective plan for
2001-2011 under the aegis of the Planning Commission. The NEAP Support
Programme would greatly contribute to this process.

2

The Citizen Community Boards will be created by the Local Governments / local communities to enable the proactive elements of
society to participate in community work and development related activities in both rural and urban areas.

26


3.ASSESSMENT OF THE AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY,
QUALITY AND RELEVANCE OF AVAILABLE DATA AND
IDENTIFICATION OF GAPS
Reasonable and good information concerning solid waste management in
Pakistan is available in Pakistan. For example:
“Data Collection for Preparation of National Study on Privatisation of Solid
Waste Management in Eight Selected Cities of Pakistan” by Engineering
Planning and Management Consultants, Lahore 1996
“Final Report for Domestic Solid Waste Management in Pakistan” by Mr Akio
Ishii, JICA Short Term Expert 2002.
“The Pakistan National Conservation Strategy”
“Environmental Profile of Pakistan” by IUCN, 1998
“State of the Environment Pakistan 2001” Ministry of Environment, SDPI,
SACEP, NORAD, UNEP
“Industrial Policy and the Environment in Pakistan” by Ministry of Environment,
UNDP and UNIDO
“Guidelines for Solid Waste Management in Punjab.” by Environmental
Protection Department, Government of Punjab.
“Hospital and Biomedical Waste Management” by Environmental Health, Health
Service Academy.
“Infectious hospital waste treatment system in Shalamar Hospital in Lahore”. I.e.
Private sector Hospital Waste Management Program.
Guidelines for Hospital Waste Management Rules 2002” published by
Environmental Health Unit, Health Service Academy. Ministry of Health.
Specification & Guidelines on Hospital Waste Incinerator prepared by EPA,
Government of Sindh, Karachi.
Composting Plant constructed and operated by Private Company “Waste Buster”.
Composting Plant constructed and operated by Green Force Project.
“Solid Waste Conditions in Four Cities of Pakistan” conducted by Pakistan
Environmental Protection Agency 2004
In addition to the above a lot of information is also available on the internet.
Therefore, it is concluded that sufficient information on the status of solid waste
management in Pakistan is available both in the print media as well as on the net.
Most of the information is reliable and up-to-date.
However, with regard to data on how much solid waste is generated in
Pakistan, very little and unreliable data is available. First, it must be understood
that in Pakistan at none of the dumping sites, there is any weighing facilities to know
the exact quantity of solid waste being dumped. Although, now some of the
municipalities like Lahore has realised its importance and have installed weighing
facility at their dump site. Similarly, there is no weighing facility to measure the
solid waste during collection. The Ministry of Environment and Urban Affairs
Division, Government of Pakistan undertook a study during 1996 on “Data Collection
for Preparation of National Study on Privatisation of Solid Waste Management in
Eight Selected Cities of Pakistan”.
There is documented data available on hazardous solid waste generated from
hospitals, industries and agricultural activities. Thus, it is concluded that very
27


limited reliable and up-to-date data is available on municipal and hazardous solid
waste generation in Pakistan.
There is an urgent need to assess the present system of solid waste
management in Pakistan, which is reliable and up-to-date particularly in major cities
and to develop baseline information of existing solid waste management system.
It is recommended that the MoELGRD should undertake a study on solid
waste management in Pakistan with the objective to assess the present system of
SWM in major cities to make future policy planning of solid waste management. It is
needed to collect the solid waste management data, such as collected garbage weight
data, disposed garbage weight data and garbage generation data. The domestic
municipal data should be separated from the hazardous waste.
The objective of the proposed study is to assess the present system of solid waste
management in major cities of Pakistan, which involves the following
Collect, review and update the baseline data on solid waste management already
collected of eight cities1 and to include ten additional cities2.
Collect and develop baseline information on hazardous waste management of
hospitals, industries and agriculture activity for all the eighteen cities including
eight major industrial estates3 of Pakistan.
Review various options for solid waste management and involvement of private
sector
Recommend a viable alternative for private sector participation in solid waste
management.
1
2
3

Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Bannu, Quetta, Sibi
Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, Rahim Yar Khan, Nawabsha, Larkana, Gawader, Turbat,
D I Khan and Abbotabad
Karachi (SITE, Korangi and Landhi), Lahore (Kala-Shah-Kaku, Lahore-SheikhupuraFaisalabad, Lahore-Gujranwala-Sailkot), Hattar Industrial Estate, Khurianwala Industrial
Estate, Faisalabad.

Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that in order to exchange
information, a network should be established to share information about solid waste
management in Pakistan to link Federal and Provincial Governments, EPA’s,
Universities, Private Sector, Industry and communities.

28


4. REVIEW OF EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT
The Government of Pakistan enacted the Pakistan Environmental Protection
Act (PEPA) in 1997--which is the most recent and updated legislation on environment.
It provides a framework for establishing federal and provincial Environmental
Protection Agencies (EPAs), and suggestions for protection and conservation of
species, habitat and biodiversity, and conservation of renewable resources. The
MoELGRD is implementing the NEAP – SP for improving the environmental
conditions and natural resources protection. The organizational structure of the
MoELGRD is being adjusted to improve its capacities to facilitate the implementation
of both PEPA and NEAP. The Ministry will continue to take initiatives in
collaboration with the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC) and
provincial EPAs to adjust the PEPA and NEAP to match up with the changing
realities on the ground. Within the Ministry, there is also a NCS Unit that is
responsible for promoting and monitoring progress of NCS implementation. As a
follow-up to these initiatives, it is likely that decrees will continue to be prepared and
issued in the near future to further improve the state of environment and regulate
the natural resources utilisation and pricing. The MoELGRD under its new structure
will have to strengthen necessary capacities to steer the process of policy and
legislation formulation, fund management and implementation of the existing laws
and NEQS in collaboration with the local administration and judiciary.
The main issues are:
Inadequate primary legislation. For national decisions.
Possible need for new ordinances. For Government of Pakistan's decisions.
Lack of monitoring and control. Depends on new laws/ordinances and the ability
of municipalities to enforce them.
Strengthening health and safety legislation to protect all sectors of society.
Presently, these legal rules and regulations are dealing with solid waste management
in Pakistan are as follows:
Section 11 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act prohibits discharge of
waste in an amount or concentration that violates the NEQS. Unfortunately,
presently we do not have any set of NEQS specific to the solid waste.
Hazardous Substances Rules of 1999.
“Islamabad Capital Territory Bye Laws, 1968” by Capital Development
Authority Islamabad
“Section 132 of the Cantonment Act 1924 deals with Deposits and disposal of
rubbish etc deals with solid waste management by Jhelum Cantonment Board
The present legal rules and regulations are inadequate and are outdated.
There is an urgent need that the solid waste management law should legislate. The
law makes clearly to any activities concerned this waste management what part
citizen; enterprise and government should take of responsibilities. Factory or
company should treat especially industrial hazardous waste, which generated these
under governmental control. Citizen, businessman, factory owner and even
government should receive a punishment for activity in violation of the law of Solid
Waste Management.

29


The following laws on solid waste management should be considered
Table 4.1 Solid Waste Management Laws to be enacted
Items to be described
Explanatory substance
Industrial waste
Definition of industrial waste,
Industrial waste collection, transportation and treatment system
controlled by local government,
Responsibility of industry which generates waste, such as collection ,
transportation and treatment ,
Standardization of treatment facility,
Responsibility of private industrial solid waste management
company
Service area
Solid waste management service should cover whole city area.
Responsibility
Roll and responsibility of citizen,
Roll and responsibility of businessman and enterprise
Roll and responsibility of government.
Subsidy
Financial assistance from federal and provincial government to local
government for constructing solid waste management facility, such
as sanitary landfill site, hospital incinerator, night soil treatment
facility and transfer station.
Definition
of
solid To make clear the definition.
waste
management,
collection,
transportation,
treatment and disposal
Hospital waste
Definition of infectious hospital waste,
Collection, transportation and disposal system of infectious hospital
waste
Constructive
To make clear the standards of solid waste treatment facility.
standardization
of
solid waste treatment
facility
Punishment
Punishment for illegality of Solid Waste Management Law
Reduction,
recycling Source reduction, reuse, recycling, material recycling
strategy
Solid
waste Every municipality should make solid waste management planning
management planning for future 15years.

30


5. REVIEW OF EXISTING INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM
At the institutional front, the MoELGRD has to play three important
functions as a regulatory agency, technical support agency and public health agency.
As a regulatory agency, it is required to work with the corporate or industrial sector
so as to provide information on clean technologies, sources of funding and assistance,
and access to markets for environment friendly products. In the capacity of technical
support agency, it is required to create conditions for sustaining the livelihood
economies. This entails community organization and mobilization efforts in order to
empower the local communities to protect their natural resource base. As a public
health agency, it should undertake and promote research on environment-health
nexus, and building a strong constituency around the protection of human health.
The NEAP SP programme is building the following capacities to contribute towards
the implementation of the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP):
Capacity to integrate environmental concerns into economic development
planning and policy-making processes;
Capacity to make informed, knowledge-based decisions, after necessary
consultation with major stakeholder groups, including the poor;
Capacity to improve inter- and intra-institutional cooperation primarily within
government administration and at different levels (federal, provincial, district
and local levels);
Capacity to promote partnerships between public and private sector
(communities, CBOs, NGOs, business companies);
Capacity to enhance systemic approaches emphasising participation and
incentives in addition to legal enforcement;
Capacity to promote awareness in society about environmental concerns, and
about people-centered solutions taking poor people’s livelihoods into account;
Capacities are being strengthened in the following areas:
The capacities of the MoELGRD and EPAs, and other institutions concerned, in
policy formulation and enforcement.
The institutional capabilities of MoELGRD, as well as of other institutions
concerned, in order to enable them meet their mandates and functions.
A comprehensive programme to meet the human resources and technological
capacity building needs of various institutions involved in poverty-environment
nexus activities; for the purpose of the programme itself, a targeted training
programme will be developed consisting of a wide range of training modules to
strengthen the technical and management capabilities of the staff and
participants associated with programme implementation.
Capacity with government institutions to mobilize resources from a multitude of
sources and mechanisms, public and private, domestic and foreign, loans and
grants, fines, fees, taxes, stakeholder funds, etc.
In Pakistan, municipal governments are usually responsible agency for solid
waste collection and disposal, but magnitude of the problem is well beyond the ability of
any municipal government. There is a need to devise such mechanisms that help city,
town or tehsil government to take steps to develop and improve the existing solid waste
management system. An integrated solid waste management system is proposed
comprising the source reduction and segregation as the top priority and which includes
other important components such as collection, processing, eco scavenging, windrow
31


type composting, transportation and sanitary landfill operations as defined under
Strategies for solid waste management in Pakistan. There is a need that all government
and private sector all have the same goals and policies of solid waste management.
Before devolution, the provincial Public Health Engineering Department
(PHED) had the main responsibility for the devolvement and maintenance of water and
sanitation services including solid waste management, particularly for large scale
projects and particularly in rural areas. In addition, Development Authorities (DAs) and
Water and Sanitation Authorities (WASA) were providing similar services in large
urban centers.
Under the recently devolved local government system, the Town/Tehsil
Municipal Administration (TMAs) are responsible for the solid waste collection,
transportation and disposal. Although in legislative term water and sanitation services
are now clearly assigned to tehsil or town (except in the case of city district, where they
are district responsibilities, the emerging implementation arrangements are uneven
retention of provincial control. Each province in Pakistan has devolved PHED in a
different way, even though the pre-devolution structure of the department was the same
in all four provinces and the same clause of the Local Government Ordinance governed
devolution in all provinces.
Administratively, TMAs have acquired a much strengthened structure under
devolution. However, the failure to complete the devolution of PHED has deprived tehsil
of the quantity and quality of technical jurisdiction of each TMA. The Municipal
Committees (MCs) in districts and tehsil that used to provide municipal services to the
urban populations are now required, with little increase in staffing and resources, to
deliver these services to a much wider jurisdiction, includes sizable rural areas not
previously part of their mandate. Furthermore, the independent and free standing of
each tehsil does not allow any equalization across the tehsil of any one district. There
are no mechanisms for prioritizing resources within a district to ensure that the
relatively deprived rural areas begin to build services equal to those of the former
municipalities. As such, TMAs are unable to cope with continuously increasing volumes
of municipal waste due to inadequate funds, lack of rules, regulations and standards,
lack of know how on the subject, lack of expertise and lack of collection vehicles and
equipment.
There is a need to propose regulatory framework for management of solid waste
in Pakistan by constituting Solid Waste committees at town/tehsil level, boards at
District and Provincial levels and commission at National level. The main objective is to
devise a collaborative institutional mechanism, to enhance implementation of relevant
strategies, rules, regulations and standards among federal, provincial governments and
other local government units like city, town, district, tehsil and union governments,
non-government organizations, and the private sector.
The proposed regulatory framework for management of solid waste
management should constitute solid waste management committees at town/tehsil
level and boards at district and provincial levels and commission at national level.
There is a need to draft the roles and terms of reference for these bodies and their
interface with each other should be worked out as per following outline:
Setting up Local Solid Waste Committee at tehsil/town level (each town or tehsil
municipality may form a town or tehsil Solid Waste committee that shall prepare
32


and implement Solid Waste measure including a solid waste management plan
according to the proposed solid waste management strategy for Pakistan. This
should include the safe and sanitary management of solid waste generated in
areas under its geographical and political coverage. The plan should establish
the estimated cost of collecting, storing, transporting, marketing and disposal of
wastes and recyclable material in the town/tehsil level. The plans should evolve
the strategy to involve private sector in town or tehsil level. The plans may also
provide for the closing or upgrading of all existing open dumps.
Provision for having a District Solid Waste Board at the district level. These
boards should prepare their respective ten year Solid Waste plans including solid
waste management plans on basis of the individual plans received from the
tehsil/town committees. All these boards may receive annual reports from all
municipal authorities. Also the district boards may grant authorizations for
setting up waste processing facilities, including consideration of regional
facilities for the benefit of small municipalities.
Provisions of a Provincial Solid Waste Board in each Province. The Provincial
Board should be able to identify opportunities for cooperation between
municipalities in various fields of Solid Waste measures including involvement of
private sector and setting up of regional disposal facilities.
Provision of a National Solid Waste Commission at federal level to oversee the
implement rules and regulation for Solid Waste measures including solid waste
management, to encourage private sectors involvement and to address current
bottlenecks, to assist Provincial Solid Waste Board in implementations of their
plans and to approve projects for funding by the Federal Government.

33


6. ESTIMATION OF FUTURE SOLID WASTE GENERATION
Presently domestic solid waste in Pakistan has not been carried out in an
insufficient and proper manner in collection, transportation and disposal and as such no
reliable data based on actual weight is available in Pakistan. However, the data
collected during 1996 for preparation of national study on privatisation of solid waste
management in eight selected cities of Pakistan does serves as a baseline data.
Keeping in view the population growth of 2.61 % per year, an estimate of solid
waste generation in prepared in table 7.1.
Table 6.1

Solid waste Generation on the basis of population for 2004
Population
(Million)
1998 Census

Population
(Million)
2004

Solid Waste
Generation
Rate
(kg/C/day)

Waste
Generated
(tons/day)

9.269
1.977
1.151
1.124
0.988
0.560
0.046
0.082

10.818
2.307
1.343
1.312
1.153
0.654
0.054
0.095

0.613
0.391
0.563
0.469
0.489
0.378
0.439
0.283

6,632
902
756
615
564
247
24
27

2,420,680
329,230
275,940
224,475
205,860
90,155
8,760
9,855

27.261

31.818

0.453

14,414

5,261,110

Rural Areas

88.121

102.853

0.283

29,108

10,624,420

Sub-Total
Add 3 % for
hazardous
waste
G Total
1998 CENSUS

130.579

152.409

53,289

19,450,485

1,599

583,635

54,888

20,034,120

City
Urban Areas
Karachi
Faisalabad
Hyderabad
Gujranwala
Peshawar
Quetta
Bannu
Sibi
Remaining
urban areas

Tons/year

From the above it is concluded that the present rate solid waste generation in
Pakistan is 54,888 tons per day which is 20.034 m tons per year. The projected
population for the year 2014 will be 197.77 m on the basis of current annual growth
rate of 2.61 % and as such the estimated projection for solid waste in 2014 will be
71,018 tons per day which will be 25.921 m tons per year.

34


7. NATIONAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT STATERGY FOR
PAKISTAN
7.1

Introduction

The Solid Waste Management Strategy for Pakistan discusses the overall aim
and the strategic objectives of the strategy as well as realistic solid waste
management options to improve existing waste collection and disposal systems. It
considers technical, financial, institutional and social issues related to solid waste
management.

7.2

Aim and strategic objectives of the strategy
The overall aim of the National Solid Waste Management Strategy is:

To provide an effective, efficient, affordable, safe and sustainable solid waste
management system for all the urban and rural settlements of Pakistan by 2015.
The strategy serves two purposes:
to inform the public of the Government of Pakistan’s objectives and how the
government intends to achieve them, and
to inform government agencies and state organs of the objectives and their roles
in achieving them.
In the context of this strategy, waste is defined as "any substance or thing that the
holder discards or dispose of irrespective of its value to anyone, and any substance or
thing deemed by a regulation to be waste; and for the purpose of this definition:
"holder" means a person in possession of the waste, or a person whose activities
produced the waste or a person who carried out pre-processing, mixing or other
operations that changed the nature or composition of the waste."
A sustainable waste management strategy is one that recognises amongst
factors, the following as necessary elements for a starting point:

other

Appropriateness – A waste management system cannot be sustainable if it is not
appropriate, as continuous high inputs would be needed to keep it going.
Dynamic nature of waste issues – An appropriate waste management system
must take cognisance of dynamic issues, such as the culture of the people,
available technology, complexity of waste streams, and level of national
development.
Priorities at various levels – Government and local communities will have
specific problems that would determine their priorities. Hence, the need to
integrate the implementation of the waste management system into the
livelihood of society.
Political support – Politicians need to be informed and educated about the
environmental and economic impact of waste.
Legal requirement – An appropriate legal framework must support the
implementation of a waste management strategy to ensure suitable standards
and standardised systems. A legal system without the necessary enforcement
tools should be discouraged.

35


The guiding principles of integrated National Solid Waste Management
Strategy (NSWMS) is based on Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.
Following guiding principles for the NSWMS:
Long-term integrated planning and co-ordination, integrated and co-operative
efforts, which consider the whole environment must be used to prevent pollution;
The Precautionary Principle and the Polluter Pays Principle will be applied;
Generation of waste must be minimised wherever practicable and waste should,
in order of priority be reused, recycled, recovered and disposed of safely;
Non-renewable natural resources should be used prudently while renewable
resources and ecosystems should be used in a manner that is sustainable.
The waste hierarchy has been used as the core around which the strategy and
the priority initiatives are presented. The strategic approach applied for the
development of the strategy is based on
the internationally recognised waste
hierarchy, which includes Waste Prevention, Recycling, Collection and Transport,
Treatment and Disposal. The Strategy ensured that the focus is on waste prevention
(preventing the generation and minimising the waste that is being generated) as a
first priority. Thereafter, would follow reuse and recycling of waste (utilising waste as
a resource) and finally treatment and disposal of the remaining waste. It also ensures
a holistic and integrated approach as all links in the waste management cycle are
considered and incorporated. The waste hierarchy is as follows:
Cleaner Production Prevention* Waste Minimisation
Recycling*Re-Use
Recovery
Composting
Collection* Transport
Treatment*Physical
Chemical
Incineration
Disposal*Landfilling
* Standard terminology for the Waste Hierarchy
The waste hierarchy is a hierarchical structure, where the highest priority
must
be
given
to
the
prevention/minimisation
of
waste.
If
the
prevention/minimisation option is neither practical nor technically or socioeconomically feasible, then other solutions have to be considered, for example the reuse or recovery of the waste. If re-use or recycling are not feasible, different
treatment alternatives must be considered. Through the application of this
hierarchical approach and the process of
elimination, the best practical
environmental and locally feasible solution with the least negative impact on the
environment for any particular waste stream will be selected. Priority initiatives are
as follows:
Solve urgent environmental and health problems
Give direct, visible and immediate results
Ensure environmental sustainability
Enhance prevention and recycling
Address waste issue that is annoying to the public
Compliance with international conventions
Low investment costs
36


High operational costs
Labour intensive technology
Create jobs in the waste sector
Improvement and change of technology
Sufficient legislation in place
Administrative burden is low
Create capacity (trained staff) within the waste sector
Create public awareness
The next step in the implementation of the priority initiatives will involve
detailed planning through the development of Action Plans. The "implementing and
enabling mechanisms" required to realise the strategy are many and varied. They
include: - the preparation of legislative instruments and guidelines, development of
monitoring and enforcement systems and procedures, training, information and
awareness programme design and implementation, review of institutional portfolios
and responsibilities, a range of multi-facetted feasibility studies to provide a sound
basis for investments into waste management related infrastructure and equipment.
The following strategic objectives are proposed for the Federal and Provincial
Governments in Pakistan to reach the overall aim:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

To upgrade waste collection and transfer
To improve waste disposal and treatment
To reduce waste and maximise recovery
To ensure the safe and separate collection and disposal of all hazardous
wastes
To achieve financial sustainability in solid waste management
To strengthen institutional and organisational capacity in solid waste
management
To increase involvement of key stakeholders in solid waste management and
raise awareness of solid waste issues.

The options available for solid waste management in Pakistan have to be
considered bearing in mind both present and future needs. There are a number of
factors that will affect the current situation, including:
Population growth
Demographic changes (including movements from rural areas to urban areas)
Industrialisation
Increasing affluence
Changes in food buying and eating habits
More or less reclamation by the informal sector depending on its profitability and
its acceptability in a changing society
Possible introduction of new regulatory measures and the degree of their
application (monitoring and control)
And, as waste management standards improve, there is likely to be:
More waste to be collected and to be disposed off
Infectious hospital and industrial hazardous solid wastes to be handled and
disposed off separately from the municipal waste flow.

37

Solid waste management in pakistan

Solid waste management in pakistan

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